Rupert Murdoch’s Star India has seen off rival offers from Sony Pictures and Facebook with a record $2.6bn bid to secure the rights to show the Indian Premier League cricket competition around the world for the next five years.
Star India, a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, won the auction for the IPL rights on Monday, beating Sony Pictures, which owns the broadcast rights until next year, and Facebook, which had bid $600m for the digital rights. Sony had paid about $1bn for its ten-year contract, meaning the value of the competition has quintupled in a decade.
The successful bid by Star underlines the Murdochs’ commitment to India, having set Star an operating income target of $1bn by 2020. Uday Shankar, Star’s chairman and chief executive, said last year that the company would generate $500m in operating income in 2018. The IPL rights will complement a portfolio that includes international cricket, tennis and European football, as well as kabaddi, India’s oldest sport.
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